PR – No. 5 Davenport Knocks Off No. 2 GVSU in OT

LOWELL, Mich. – In a rematch of last season’s National Semifinal game that ended with Davenport advancing after a four overtime win, it was again the Panthers who would come out on top with a 7-6 win in overtime. Jordan Richtsmeier scored his second goal of the game with 14 seconds left in overtime to win it for the Panthers.

Davenport would strike first with Taylor Keyworth netting an unassisted goal two minutes into the game. Just over four minutes later, Grand Valley’s Conor Schwalm evened the game at one with a man-up goal. The Panthers came back with three goals in the final 2:31 of the first quarter to build a 4-1 lead over the Lakers. Jordan Richtsmeier, Daniel Hume, and Cody Cross each scored for the Panthers while Lyle Parks and Richtsmeier picked up assists on the goals.

The score remained 4-1 for the opening several minutes of the second quarter until Michael Garner of GVSU score his first of two consecutive goals to bring the Lakers within one. Assisting on the first goal was Jack Dumsa while Jeremy Pouba was credited with an assist on the second goal.

The Lakers scored their third straight goal just over two minutes into the third quarter when Alex Christians scored an unassisted goal. But Davenport would respond quickly with a goal by Lyle Parks from Daniel Hume 44 seconds later.

With 9:28 remaining in the third quarter, Tyler McCullen found Josh Walters for a Lakers goal to tie the game at five. Jack Turcotte gave the Panthers back the lead scoring with a minute left in the third.

Michael Garner scored the only goal, his third goal of the game, late in the fourth quarter for Grand Valley to send the game into overtime.

Grand Valley took control to start the extra frame and kept control for most of the period. But with just over a minute to play the Panthers took control of the ball and with 14 seconds remaining in overtime Taylor Keyworth found Jordan Richtsmeier for the goal to win it for the Panthers.

Alexis Buque picked up the win in net for the Panthers after making 12 saves. Buque and the Davenport defense held a high-scoring Lakers team to just six goals, eleven goals under their season average.

The win improves the Panthers to 9-4 on the season and hands Grand Valley State their first loss dropping them to 10-1 on the year. Davenport will host No. 17 Hope College on Thursday for Senior Day and then will wrap up the regular season with a trip to No. 14 Indiana Tech on Saturday. Live video will be available for the game against Hope while live stats will be available for both games.

Post-Game Quotes

Alexis Buque on Davenport defense – “I got one of the best D’s in the entire league, these guys are my brothers and I know they’ll back me up and I’ll back them up.”

Alexis Buque on importance of win against rival and near end of season – “It’s clutch, it’s against a tough team and we had a bit of a rough spot during the season and now we are getting our confidence back and getting some goals. It gives us confidence heading forward into playoffs and into Nationals.”

Head Coach Bob Clarkson on finally beating Grand Valley in the regular season – “The last two years they beat us in the regular season and then we beat them in Nationals, hopefully this year is the opposite. This is a game that allows us to gauge ourselves, if we play well against each other we know we will both probably be there in the end, it certainly brings out the best in both teams.”

Head Coach Bob Clarkson on play of Alexis Buque in goal – “You don’t get to Nationals and win at Nationals without having awesome goaltending and I feel that we have two of the best goalies in the league. Lexi was outstanding today, he had several point blank saves and made several other saves that a lesser goalie may have let in.”

Post-Game Notes

Davenport held Grand Valley’s two leading scorers (Dumsa/Poube – 101 combined points coming in) to just two assists…This is the Panthers first win over the Lakers in the regular season since 2009… Davenport now leads the all-time series 5-4, the Panthers are 3-2 on neutral fields…The last two meetings between Davenport and GVSU have been decided by two goals and have seen five overtime periods.